Ham Parade had a make-over a couple of years ago and looks much better for it. The tarmac has been replaced by brick for the public area and by paving stones for the part of the pavement that belongs to the shops. The few inappropriate trees have been replaced by more that are better suited to being planted in pavements and we've got a few benches too.

This is the other plaque on the gate house in Upper Ham Road. Not sure why it needed restoring in 1892, only 100 years or so after it was built, but the person responsible, Tollemache, also built the almshouses in Ham Street.

This plaque is on the gate house on that little stretch or road between Ham Parade and Ham Common. It used to be a toll booth but I guess "gate house" means much the same thing. The local name "Hatch" has all but disappeared though there is a newish road called Hatch Place nearby.

The Hand and Flower changed hands recently and is now having a much needed make over. It has looked very dated for some years now, despite a minor refresh a couple of years back, and I really hope that the new people make significant changes. Local pubs like the Owl and Pussycat (a.k.a. Queen's Head) and the Willoughby Arms have shown how it is possible to make an old pub light, bright and comfortable and the Hand and Flower needs to do the same.

This nondescript post (which I assumed incorrectly was a mile post) is almost hidden on the triangular patch of greenery between Dukes Avenue and Craig Road. Age has erased any text that once gave the post a purpose.

Update: I have now been told that this is one of the posts that once marked the border between Richmond and Kingston. One of its siblings can be found on Ham Parade.

The Denes in Craig Road is starting to take shape. The building at the front is a row of town houses which, for some reason, got planning permission separately even though they must have been in the plan from the beginning. The building behind, the brickwork about half way up the picture, is the two blocks of flats at the back of the development. I don't know yet if they have got planning permission for the addition of a third floor where they want to put two penthouses. The roof in the background belongs to the fairly new mansion on the south-east side of Ham Common. The owners there must be less than impressed by the prospect of being overlooked by the new penthouses.

This is where the Crooked Billet used to be, in Ham Street almost directly opposite another pub, the Ham Brewery Tap.

I discovered the Crooked Billet on a drive-through explore of the area many years ago and then looked for it again when we moved to Ham. It took me quite a while to realise that the nice pub had been replaced by these houses.

Update: I've since found the old pub sign in a front garden nearby, see http://hamphotos.blogspot.com/2010/12/faded-memories.html

Ivy House and Ivy Cottage on Upper Ham Road are on the south-east corner or Ham Common and are among the oldest houses in the area. They share the ivy name but not the ivy plant; there are two ivies. This becomes very apparent when the one on the right dies back in Autumn while the hardier one on the left remains green.

We now know what is being built on the land next to the Cassel Hospital in the south-east corner of Ham Common. It's fourteen 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments with basement car parking. Marketing from November 2007.

6 May 2007

These houses in Craig Road are typical for Ham and there are clusters of houses like this in several of the neighbouring roads and by the Russell School.

There are two sets of houses like these in Craig Road, both on the south-west side, that were built at different times and so are slightly different. The other set has yellower brick and does not have the design flaw that meant that all of these have had to have repairs done to the brickwork to fix damage caused by water.